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Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Thoughts on the VERSUS PR

- Well, Bill Clement's firing from NBC looks less ambiguous now. It's clear he's prepping for a return to ESPN when they bid for a piece of the NHL rights, so he may re-join Gary Thorne.

- For a small profile of Bill Patrick, not to be confused with William Patrick Hitler (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Patrick_Hitler), check this USA Network profile, since he heads up their PGA coverage as a play-by-play man: http://www.usanetwork.com/sports/pgatourgolf/theshow/characterprofiles/patrick/index.html

- The schedule is fairly standard, your usual load of lots of Rangers, Flyers, Wings, Avs and Pens. Lots of Sabres and Bruins as well. Once again, most of the games feature Eastern teams, and the Western Conference clubs, particularly everyone but Detroit and Colorado, are mostly ignored. Because the Stanley Cup Finalist from the Western Conference never comes from the Pacific Division or Canada or anything.

-Speaking of Canada, all 6 teams from the Great White North make at least one appearences, with the Maple Leafs making three appearences and the Canadiens making 5, more than about 15 American teams. It's clear the NHL is using these two clubs, Original 6's with fans around North America, to draw some interest into the league.

-The NHL on VERSUS' 3 Inter-Conference games are real barn-burners: Carolina-Nashville, Washington-Detroit, and Pittsburgh-Minnesota. To be fair, Caps-Wings should be exciting, but Canes-Preds and Pens-Wild? Okay, you go do that VERSUS.

-Overall, there's really not much to say. VERSUS should be covering the Saturday London game, but they're not due to a Big 12 telecast. NBC can't cover it due to their round the clock President's Cup coverage. Perhaps the first game will be a launching pad for the NHL Network? Eh, maybe they'll just be dumb enough to not show it. Never know with this league.